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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 6, 2009 18:03:51 GMT -5
A week or so ago, Aurelia had called him to tell him that somebody wanted to come over and see him. The 'guest' never made an appearance, so Reyes could only guess that whoever it was got scared away by Fred the Shark on his roof, whom some have described as looking like 'a Titan had decided to make shark-javelin a sport'... Or the signs on his front yard. Or the various statues he kept there too. Actually, now that he thought about it, there were a lot of things that people would be afraid of on his front lawn and/or roof.
But the weirdness of the exterior of his house didn't seem to intimidate the neighbourhood kids, whom often came to his door with cameras, asking to take pictures of his aquarium. He had plenty of time on his hands for Angela's and Flo's adoring fans, so he always let them.
With spring swinging around, he was working more often. The Nine Muses Cafe was calling him out more frequently to perform live music of the acoustic guitar and tenor saxophone variety, along with Oceana, Uncle Sam's and occasionally Silent Rose as well. The young Japanese man did mostly freelance music and odd jobs here and there, and it was a good enough salary as any so far. But today was a quiet day; he had checked his answering machine and found that nobody had called upon him to perform, and no neighbourhood children were knocking at his door to take pictures.
So, in typical Satoshi Reyes Ando fashion, he had decided to enjoy the afternoon instead of cleaning up his house like he should've done a while ago. His living room was littered with sheet music and anybody who tread here would inevitably have very paper cut ankles. Anybody who tried to light the fireplace would risk setting the whole house of fire because of the sheer amount of flammable materials surrounding it. There was no mistaking it; his house was a mess.
He had spent most of the morning in the kitchen, trying to cook up something new or interesting or whatever caught his fancy. He was wearing his apron that said "Be nice to me or I'll poison your food" and... Well, nothing else, really. He was wearing nothing but an apron in his kitchen while he experimented with potential bio-hazards that he called 'food'. The morning had been quiet, so he was careful not to ruin it with an explosion of some sort. It was harder then one thought it was.
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 7, 2009 11:21:32 GMT -5
The house was...eclectic, Fulong decided as he stared up at the shark, one corner of his mouth twitching upward in amusement. It certainly had character. He could see why Aurelia had been so hesitant to introduce him to this Reyes fellow, but he didn't particularly mind the decor.
It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to pay a visit; it was simply that he hadn't had the time. There were far too many injuries in the clinic these days to escape the notice of even the residents who didn't have talismans, and if it kept up, he was sure they'd make the local news. Most of the doctors had a general idea of what was going on by now--they'd been satisfied with a vague explanation about two gangs moving into town and had left it at that--but it still didn't change the fact that public curiosity about the situation in town was rapidly increasing.
He'd managed to sneak away from the clinic today, though, and with luck he'd get a little more information about the town from an Undecided's point of view. Although, he reflected half-seriously as he rang the doorbell, he might very well be getting in over his head in that respect.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 7, 2009 22:36:54 GMT -5
Sugar statues took a lot of effort, one had to melt and mold molten sugar over and over again to gain the glass-like clarity, the brittle material to just the right shape, the food colours to achieve the best hues. It was an art, much like painting or music; it took much to perfect.
Though most of Reyes' morning had been spent cooking, a portion of that had been spent trying to form a nice little sugar caribou. It was supposed to be clear as glass, but he had messed up somehow during the process and it turned semi-opaque, but he continued working on it. He was just working on one of the antlers with a chopstick and a pair of tweezers when the doorbell rang and he nearly snapped it off. Reyes sucked in an abrupt breath and held it for a few seconds, hoping the delicate stick of sugar wouldn't break. When it didn't, he let out a deep sigh and then bolted upstairs.
Coming back down the stairs with a pair of low-slung, faded and ripped jeans on, still shirtless save for his apron, he paused at the door to tie the back of his hair into a short ponytail. He swung open the door with that pleasant smile ever-present on his face, fully expecting to see a bunch of kids holding cameras and asking to take photos of his aquarium.
Instead, he came nearly face-to-face with a young man, slightly shorter then himself, of Asian ethnicity. He looked slightly amused for some reason, probably Fred the shark on the roof. It was rare to see Asians in Noatak generally, but when an Asian other then Aurelia came up to his doorstep, he counted that as a near-never occurrence.
"Eh..." Reyes cocked his head to the side curiously. "May I help you?"
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 10, 2009 15:03:18 GMT -5
[short post is short]
Fulong drew his attention back down to the door as it opened, stepping forward and offering a hand as Reyes addressed him.
"Reyes, right?" His voice was a little more casual than it had been with Aurelia, if still somewhat reserved. "I'm Li Fulong--the Undecided. I believe Aurelia Locke told you about me?"
He offered a quick widening of his usual smile. "Nice house, by the way."
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 10, 2009 17:13:26 GMT -5
"Oh, hi then," Reyes' trademark smile came back to his face as he took the other man's hand. "Yeah, I'm Satoshi Reyes Ando. Nice to meet you."
With a nod of thanks for his comment about his house, Reyes stepped aside to let him in. "Sorry about the mess," he also put a mental note in to actually get around to cleaning his house once the man left. But with that aside, he finally got around to that thought that oh, so that's the Undecided.
"Have a seat," Reyes closed the door behind Fulong, that smile still lingering on his lips. Then he noticed that his cushion and driftwood couch he had made by hand was pretty much buried under sheets of music. "Well, if you can find the seat, go ahead."
{Don't worry, my own post is short too. XP}
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 11, 2009 19:22:41 GMT -5
Fulong returned Reyes's trademark smile with one of his own as he stepped inside, attempting at first to avoid the piles of sheet music scattered around the floor. That soon proved an impossible task due to their sheer number, though, and he had to settle for stepping as lightly as possible on the smaller stacks as he made his way through the room.
A small avalanche of sheet music gathered around his ankles when he attempted to sit on the invisible couch, and he smiled apologetically at Reyes as he straightened. "I think I'll prefer to stand, thanks."
He gave the room a brief scan; the inside, or at least what little he could see of it, had that unique brand of offbeat he had already begun to associate with the man standing in front of him. Fulong wasn't especially bothered by it, though he certainly knew a few artists back in Vancouver who might very well have killed to live here. "You play an instrument too, I see. Unless the sheet music is also part of the decor?"
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 11, 2009 20:42:30 GMT -5
Reyes watched as Fulong attempted to avoid the piles of sheet music scattered about the floor, but he seemed to soon give up and ended up treading lightly instead. He found it a bit amusing to watch, but decided it'd be more polite just to keep quiet. "Ah, just a second." Reyes picked up all the sheet music that fell off the couch and placed them in a messy pile to the side before picking up all the pieces on the couch as well until it was clear. "There, now you can sit, if you want."
"Not an instrument," he nodded towards the corner of the room where his two primary instruments sat on their respective stands. "Acoustic guitar and tenor saxophone, while practicing the gravikord on the side. Gravikord's upstairs at the moment."
Reyes proceeded to pick up a few more stacks and lay them aside so Fulong could walk if he so wished. "You want anything?" The Japanese man disappeared into the kitchen, clearing some more sheets of music off the countertop--where the heck did he get this many anyways? He was getting some green tea ready for the both of them, and if Fulong wanted anything, he could just say so. Reyes had all day, after all.
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 12, 2009 10:17:11 GMT -5
"That's certainly very impressive--thank you," Fulong added, seating himself on the couch. "I used to play the piano and I probably still could, but I rather doubt I'll be able to find a proper piano in this town, much less afford one."
He leaned back in his seat, glancing over the sheet music beside him. Truth be told, he had very little idea of what to say now, save to ask Reyes's opinion of matters in Noatak, but he didn't feel particularly inclined to change the subject now. People had a tendency of clamming up when one mentioned talismans. It was probably best to wait and see where the conversation went on its own.
"I'm fine, thanks," he called in response to Reyes's question. No need to be an inconvenience, after all.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 12, 2009 12:08:01 GMT -5
Reyes decided to brew some koicha instead of the usual tea he made, one of the reasons being that it just happened to be on the countertop while the usual tea was in the cupboard. When that was brewing, he opened up the cupboard and grabbed a bag of cookies and dumped them on a plate. Jibachi senbei, or otherwise known as 'digger wasp rice crackers', ordered from Japan. Aurelia never had a problem with eating these, so he figured Fulong wouldn't either.
Bringing the tray of tea and plate of cookies out, he placed then gingerly on the wooden table and sat down next to the other man. There was a pause as Reyes tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't help but wonder why Fulong wanted to see him. He had immediately introduced himself as an Undecided when he came in through the door, so it might have something to do with the talisman wars.
"So you've met Aurelia?" He decided to start on more innocent topics, just in case his thoughts were wrong. The Japanese man idly picked up a sheet of music, Dana Point Overture, and read the music in his mind. It was a nice song, with a medieval feel to it, though it would sound a lot better if he had a full band arrangement to accompany him. Fulong mentioned he used to play piano, and Reyes began sifting through the piles in front of him to find the few pieces of piano music he did have.
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 13, 2009 18:02:35 GMT -5
The koicha was familiar in the sense that he had had it a few times before. The senbei were...well, Fulong had had senbei before, but not precisely this kind.
It would have been a little odd to not display a little surprise at the crackers, so he obliged his face by letting a trace of it show. Still, he played the part of the perfect guest and took a moderately sized cracker--like Beijing street food, except not on a stick--and crunched his way through it with admirable calm.
"So you've met Aurelia?"
He paused a moment to fish a wing fragment from between his teeth and wash the mouthful down with koicha. "Yes. I mentioned that I was new in town and she was kind enough to fill me in on what's been going on. I'm still a little curious about the specifics, though, and she said that if I wanted to be an Undecided, she could introduce me to others in in the area."
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 13, 2009 19:43:08 GMT -5
"...I see." Reyes looked up for a moment at Fulong before turning his attentions back at the piece of music on hand. To him, that sounded a bit out of character for Aurelia, or at least the Aurelia he knew oh-so-well. She was like a big sister he never had. She wasn't the kind to fill in anybody on anything, and oftentimes her motto was that; "You think I had anybody helping me when I first arrived? I had learned everything I know about Noatak on my own, so others should do the same."
But the woman kept secrets, and this town was insane, so he had learned long ago to not be surprised by anything.
He chucked gently and picked up another sheet; Celtic Air and Dance No. 2, his favourite for the tenor saxophone. And maybe he was just being anal about specific phrasing of words, but there was something in Fulong's words that didn't sit comfortable with him. Oh well, brush that aside and it's fine and dandy. "It does seem that the more you hear, the less you know, eh?"
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 19, 2009 20:19:58 GMT -5
"Apparently." Fulong crunched his way through another senbei. It actually wasn't bad if you forgot the fact that it was, more or less, a cookie full of wasps, and the koicha was of excellent quality.
"I'm just interested in hearing about the situation in town from an unbiased source." Aurelia had certainly sounded objective, but as far as he was concerned, a second opinion couldn't hurt. Fulong was nothing if not careful, and there was no harm in telling the truth here. "I don't like what I've heard about either side, and I wish there were an option to remain neutral that didn't involve the implication that I'd eventually have to pick a side."
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 20, 2009 13:19:31 GMT -5
"Ah, but that's just wishful thinking." More organization; Aurelia had already put these into ordered stacks earlier this week, but being Reyes, he had messed them up once again. "Personally, I'm never picking a side, it doesn't matter what they do to me. They call us Undecideds because they think we'll snap and choose eventually, but some wills are stronger then that."
Pick up his cup, take a sip, but put it down with a little more force then he originally intended. Ah, now he remembered why he hated talking about this. "So I trust that Aurelia told you the legend already? They make it all sound so simple, do they? The story's been told a million times," Reyes turned slightly to glance at the other man. "But it's very different when it's your life."
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